WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.760 --> 00:00:03.720 You're listening to an Airwave media podcast. 2 00:00:12.080 --> 00:00:17.359 Monsterhouse presents Monster Talks, a proud member of the Airwave 3 00:00:17.440 --> 00:00:24.320 Media podcast Network, home of such shows as Subtext, The 4 00:00:24.359 --> 00:00:30.399 Projection Booth and The Daily Meditation Podcast. If you'd like 5 00:00:30.440 --> 00:00:39.079 to advertise on the show, contact sales at advertisedcast dot com. 6 00:00:39.439 --> 00:00:42.079 It's actually quite unlike anything we've ever seen before. 7 00:00:44.240 --> 00:00:49.799 A giant, hairy creature, partape, part Matt in Luckness, a 8 00:00:49.880 --> 00:00:53.079 twenty four mile long bottomless lake in the Highlands of Scotland. 9 00:00:53.399 --> 00:00:55.920 If a creature known as the Luckness Monster. 10 00:01:17.879 --> 00:01:18.879 Monster Talk. 11 00:01:20.400 --> 00:01:24.120 Welcome to Monster Talk, the science show about monsters. I'm 12 00:01:24.200 --> 00:01:25.480 Blake Smith and. 13 00:01:25.400 --> 00:01:26.480 I'm Karen Stolsner. 14 00:01:26.879 --> 00:01:29.400 I grew up hooked on documentaries As a teen. I 15 00:01:29.400 --> 00:01:33.000 would plan my evenings around PBS shows, especially on Sunday 16 00:01:33.040 --> 00:01:35.159 night when they would show the series Nature, which often 17 00:01:35.200 --> 00:01:38.799 featured repackaged content from the BBC. Sometimes I would even 18 00:01:38.840 --> 00:01:40.920 stay up late and be tired on Monday mornings at 19 00:01:40.920 --> 00:01:44.480 school because I'd been binging documentaries past a sensible bed time. 20 00:01:45.120 --> 00:01:47.439 One time this actually paid off pretty well when I 21 00:01:47.480 --> 00:01:49.760 had stayed up quite late and ended up falling asleep 22 00:01:49.760 --> 00:01:53.000 in Biology, which was an early part of my school day. 23 00:01:53.519 --> 00:01:55.959 I woke up with the teacher calling me out for sleeping. 24 00:01:56.359 --> 00:01:59.040 Mister Smith, if you know so much about venus fly 25 00:01:59.159 --> 00:02:01.439 traps that you think it's okay to sleep through the lesson, 26 00:02:01.439 --> 00:02:03.239 why don't you tell the class about them? 27 00:02:03.560 --> 00:02:03.719 Now? 28 00:02:03.799 --> 00:02:06.439 Normally this is where a student should be apologizing for 29 00:02:06.480 --> 00:02:09.039 sleeping in class. Snap to attention and begin to take 30 00:02:09.400 --> 00:02:12.240 hyper attentive notes for a bit until the fierce eye 31 00:02:12.240 --> 00:02:16.039 of the teacher passes on to other matters. But guess 32 00:02:16.080 --> 00:02:19.560 what the previous night's documentary had been about? So I 33 00:02:19.639 --> 00:02:21.919 stood up and gave a fact filled summary of the 34 00:02:22.039 --> 00:02:25.560 nature of carnivorous plants. I talked about the triggering mechanism 35 00:02:25.639 --> 00:02:28.639 for what brings the specialized leaves together when they trap prey. 36 00:02:28.960 --> 00:02:32.319 I described the digestive process related species and everything I 37 00:02:32.360 --> 00:02:35.639 could recall about them, which was enough that when I finished, 38 00:02:35.840 --> 00:02:37.960 my teacher stared at me for a moment before saying, 39 00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:42.039 maybe the greatest thing a teacher's ever told me, excellent summary. 40 00:02:42.199 --> 00:02:44.960 You may go back to sleep. We talk about so 41 00:02:45.120 --> 00:02:48.120 many monsters on this show that are biologically implausible, but 42 00:02:48.159 --> 00:02:50.439 I also love it when we're able to discuss real 43 00:02:50.520 --> 00:02:55.080 world animals. That have become monsterized by culture. We can't 44 00:02:55.120 --> 00:02:58.560 resurrect dinosaurs, but there are very large birds in some 45 00:02:58.599 --> 00:03:02.439 countries that certainly aimate some of the ecological niches that 46 00:03:02.599 --> 00:03:05.680 used to be filled by dinosaurs. And yes, current thinking 47 00:03:05.800 --> 00:03:08.199 is that birds are the descendants of dinosaurs and it 48 00:03:08.240 --> 00:03:10.520 shouldn't take much convincing for that idea if you come 49 00:03:10.560 --> 00:03:13.599 face to face with the subject of this week's episode, 50 00:03:14.240 --> 00:03:18.479 the Castilewary. We're pleased today to talk with Steve Portugal 51 00:03:18.560 --> 00:03:21.680 about these amazing and often misunderstood creatures. 52 00:03:22.120 --> 00:03:23.759 More instrutal. 53 00:03:24.960 --> 00:03:28.560 Say. My name is Steve Portugal. I'm a biologist, zoologist 54 00:03:28.639 --> 00:03:33.439 academic at rural Holloway University of London and I've had 55 00:03:33.680 --> 00:03:36.960 a childhood or since childhood obsession with animals, which I've 56 00:03:36.960 --> 00:03:39.120 been able to turn into a job, which is ace 57 00:03:40.439 --> 00:03:44.039 and I've been studying birds for about twenty years now 58 00:03:44.520 --> 00:03:50.199 and my job entails teaching students, doing research and hopefully 59 00:03:50.240 --> 00:03:54.560 trying to help animals in the wild to cope with 60 00:03:54.719 --> 00:03:57.960 the crazy amount of environmental change that they're experiencing. 61 00:03:58.919 --> 00:04:02.759 Fantastic, Yeah, thank you so much for joining us and Steve, 62 00:04:03.080 --> 00:04:06.560 I came across an article that you had were partly 63 00:04:06.560 --> 00:04:09.840 written and had been interviewed for in which you were 64 00:04:09.840 --> 00:04:14.960 called Stuart instead of Steve, which was interesting. But you 65 00:04:15.120 --> 00:04:18.279 were talking about a creature that has fascinated me for 66 00:04:18.319 --> 00:04:21.920 a very long time from my home country Australia, and 67 00:04:22.040 --> 00:04:24.879 we've had lots of queries about this animal over the years, 68 00:04:24.879 --> 00:04:28.759 and that's the cassowary. And it seems like you're as 69 00:04:28.959 --> 00:04:32.680 interested in this creature or even more than us. But 70 00:04:32.839 --> 00:04:35.439 we wanted to bring you on to talk about this 71 00:04:35.560 --> 00:04:38.959 bird and just how amazing it is, this dinosaur like creature. 72 00:04:39.480 --> 00:04:41.120 So can we just start with a little bit of 73 00:04:41.399 --> 00:04:45.120 information about casterwerries and what they look like and how 74 00:04:45.120 --> 00:04:47.879 big they are, their diet, where you can find them, 75 00:04:47.879 --> 00:04:48.560 that kind of thing. 76 00:04:49.839 --> 00:04:53.360 There are certainly special, special birds and they're so unique. 77 00:04:53.639 --> 00:04:56.839 And when you visit Australia and you visit regions where 78 00:04:56.839 --> 00:05:00.560 cassowaries are found, you feel the pride from the people 79 00:05:00.639 --> 00:05:03.519 that live there for these enigmatic creatures that you don't 80 00:05:03.519 --> 00:05:06.759 really find anywhere else in the world. So castories are 81 00:05:06.839 --> 00:05:10.879 these group of flightless birds called d ratites, which are 82 00:05:10.920 --> 00:05:13.480 often referred to as kind of the ancient birds that 83 00:05:13.560 --> 00:05:16.240 sort of one of the first birds as we know 84 00:05:16.279 --> 00:05:18.879 it today to kind of emerge, if you like, from 85 00:05:19.319 --> 00:05:23.560 for many, many years ago, and they are striking for 86 00:05:23.600 --> 00:05:27.160 their size. Adult castamories can be up to six feet 87 00:05:27.199 --> 00:05:30.639 tall until they truly look you in the eye when 88 00:05:30.639 --> 00:05:34.360 you're stood in front of them, and they can weigh 89 00:05:34.399 --> 00:05:37.759 up to around forty five to fifty kilograms, so they 90 00:05:37.800 --> 00:05:42.199 are packing quite a punch, and ironically, I guess for 91 00:05:42.279 --> 00:05:45.720 something that is so large. Most of the time, their 92 00:05:45.759 --> 00:05:49.959 diet consists of fruit, fruit, and more fruit, and where 93 00:05:50.000 --> 00:05:53.720 they're found throughout Australia or rather the tropics of Australia 94 00:05:54.160 --> 00:05:57.160 and Papua New Guinea, they eat around two hundred and 95 00:05:57.160 --> 00:06:00.959 thirty to two hundred and forty different fruits, different plant species, 96 00:06:01.519 --> 00:06:04.639 and in these regions they are actually the main seed 97 00:06:04.680 --> 00:06:08.720 distributes there. So they're basically like pillars of the ecosystem. 98 00:06:09.040 --> 00:06:12.199 They are distributing all these different species and all these 99 00:06:12.240 --> 00:06:15.319 seeds around the environment, and they are the primary sort 100 00:06:15.319 --> 00:06:18.879 of seed distributor. So we look at them and to think, wow, 101 00:06:19.120 --> 00:06:22.000 aren't they amazing, But they also have this incredibly important 102 00:06:22.079 --> 00:06:25.360 role in the ecosystem, and without them, you start to 103 00:06:25.399 --> 00:06:29.240 see real issues with forest biodiversity. And it starts to 104 00:06:29.279 --> 00:06:32.600 all go a bit wrong. So they're pretty special birds 105 00:06:32.360 --> 00:06:33.639 for so many reasons. 106 00:06:33.800 --> 00:06:36.000 Let me reiterate what Karen said earlier about thank you 107 00:06:36.040 --> 00:06:42.240 for joining us for all our castle queries. These are 108 00:06:42.399 --> 00:06:46.839 beautiful and colorful birds, but they've got this very strange 109 00:06:46.839 --> 00:06:49.519 structure on their head. And I've seen it written, but 110 00:06:49.560 --> 00:06:53.399 I've never heard it spoken. Is it pronounced cask? Yeah, 111 00:06:53.399 --> 00:06:57.680 that's correct, Okay, I take it. There's some I don't 112 00:06:57.720 --> 00:07:01.920 say controversy, but some mystery around what exactly its role is. 113 00:07:02.399 --> 00:07:05.319 And I'm always curious about how people sort of figure 114 00:07:05.360 --> 00:07:07.680 these things out. You know, are they is it serving 115 00:07:07.720 --> 00:07:11.000 some you know, survival biological need or is it a 116 00:07:11.040 --> 00:07:14.079 sexual selection thing? Is it for cooling? Is it for acoustics? 117 00:07:14.560 --> 00:07:16.639 Do you know what the latest is on what this 118 00:07:16.839 --> 00:07:19.240 is probably for? And I'm not saying it's a single purpose, 119 00:07:19.399 --> 00:07:23.759 you know, biology, but obviously evolution multipurposes wherever it can. 120 00:07:24.360 --> 00:07:27.720 I think controversy, I think it is a fair fair word. Actually, 121 00:07:27.800 --> 00:07:32.040 I certainly has caused people to disagree quite quite vehemently 122 00:07:32.040 --> 00:07:34.959 on this. To actually say, one of the ideas is 123 00:07:35.000 --> 00:07:38.920 that it acted like a sound resonator, so cast worries 124 00:07:39.000 --> 00:07:42.720 and the males that do this sort of territorial mating call. 125 00:07:42.800 --> 00:07:46.759 They have this this amazing low low frequency call that 126 00:07:46.839 --> 00:07:49.600 can travel for miles and it's sort of on a 127 00:07:49.680 --> 00:07:51.560 level where if you stood near them, you feel it 128 00:07:51.560 --> 00:07:53.759 in your stomach like you're being a really loud gig 129 00:07:53.839 --> 00:07:56.360 or a concert by the speaker. You know, it rumbles 130 00:07:56.360 --> 00:07:59.240 in your tummy. And it was thought that this this 131 00:07:59.399 --> 00:08:02.000 cask may helped to do that a bit like it's 132 00:08:02.000 --> 00:08:05.439 thought that it helps sperm whales increase the sort of 133 00:08:04.879 --> 00:08:09.480 the sound that they create. Perhaps how dinosaurs like the 134 00:08:09.560 --> 00:08:13.439 duck build dinosaurs parasoral office, et cetera. It's thought they 135 00:08:13.519 --> 00:08:16.839 used the similar head design to create to create the sound. 136 00:08:17.759 --> 00:08:20.000 Then it was suggested it stopped them getting smacked in 137 00:08:20.040 --> 00:08:23.240 the face when they were moving at speed through this 138 00:08:23.399 --> 00:08:27.360 dense rainforest. But as you've alluded to, the current thinking 139 00:08:27.439 --> 00:08:30.240 is actually is to do with some elements of thermoregulation. 140 00:08:31.360 --> 00:08:35.840 It's got this kind of bizarre and fascinating spongy structure 141 00:08:35.879 --> 00:08:40.360 inside it, and what studies have shown using infrared cameras, 142 00:08:40.399 --> 00:08:43.080 you know, looking at the heat signal, that different parts 143 00:08:43.120 --> 00:08:46.000 of the cask can lose more heat at different times, 144 00:08:46.279 --> 00:08:48.600 So it looks like it might be something to do 145 00:08:48.720 --> 00:08:51.639 with with heat, but why it's just in them and 146 00:08:51.720 --> 00:08:54.320 not their relatives like em use they were also getting 147 00:08:54.320 --> 00:08:56.720 pretty toasty. It's not entirely clear. 148 00:08:57.440 --> 00:09:03.000 Interesting, yeah, is and it is such a unique element 149 00:09:03.039 --> 00:09:05.039 of this bird. And we're using all of these terms 150 00:09:05.080 --> 00:09:09.039 like beautiful and unique and special. But cassowarries have also 151 00:09:09.080 --> 00:09:14.080 been called dangerous and even called the world's most dangerous bird. 152 00:09:14.240 --> 00:09:16.080 So is this true? And can you tell us a 153 00:09:16.159 --> 00:09:19.480 little bit about what makes them so dangerous. 154 00:09:20.120 --> 00:09:24.720 They've definitely got that reputation, haven't they. The interesting thing is, 155 00:09:25.320 --> 00:09:28.840 it's obviously not to take anything away from a single instance, 156 00:09:28.879 --> 00:09:32.720 but there's only one known recorded incident of a person 157 00:09:32.799 --> 00:09:36.080 being killed by a cassowary in the wild in Australia. 158 00:09:36.759 --> 00:09:39.039 That was back in nineteen twenty six. I believe that 159 00:09:39.039 --> 00:09:41.559 it all was sick and it was a thirteen year 160 00:09:41.600 --> 00:09:45.759 old boy. It was two brothers and we found an 161 00:09:45.799 --> 00:09:49.159 adult female. I believe it was in their shed. She 162 00:09:49.240 --> 00:09:53.399 was a drumming doing around doing castaworry things and they 163 00:09:53.519 --> 00:09:57.399 panicked and they started to hit it with a pipe 164 00:09:57.440 --> 00:10:00.600 and a stick that they had in the shed. Then 165 00:10:00.639 --> 00:10:04.519 they ran away, and castawarries have this strange response, like 166 00:10:04.600 --> 00:10:06.279 quite a lot of animals do, if you start running, 167 00:10:06.320 --> 00:10:10.799 They're like, okay, we're running, We're gonna with you. Unfortunately, 168 00:10:10.840 --> 00:10:16.240 the oldest boy tripped and then the castawary basically I believe, 169 00:10:16.320 --> 00:10:18.879 kicked him from behind when he was faced down on 170 00:10:18.919 --> 00:10:23.320 the ground, and their claws, which are about five inches long, 171 00:10:24.000 --> 00:10:25.960 unfortunately happened to go into his jugular. 172 00:10:26.279 --> 00:10:28.200 Oh wow, oh boy. 173 00:10:29.200 --> 00:10:32.519 So it's a very sad story, it is. You know, 174 00:10:32.879 --> 00:10:34.960 they can't take anything away from that. That's a horrible 175 00:10:35.000 --> 00:10:40.600 thing to happen. The only yeah, exactly, yeah, And the 176 00:10:40.639 --> 00:10:43.960 only other instances are actually in the US where people 177 00:10:43.960 --> 00:10:46.879 are legally allowed to just keep them as pets like 178 00:10:46.960 --> 00:10:50.320 they can with chimps and other things, and like with 179 00:10:50.519 --> 00:10:53.039 chimps and other things, often goes horribly wrong because it 180 00:10:53.080 --> 00:10:57.080 turns out these things are not really meant to be pets. 181 00:10:57.120 --> 00:11:00.399 But it's just the one, one wild example. There have 182 00:11:00.480 --> 00:11:03.759 been other injuries. But part of the issue at the 183 00:11:03.759 --> 00:11:07.320 moment is that people, I guess, this is something that's 184 00:11:07.360 --> 00:11:10.440 persisting in many facets of our life, that you know 185 00:11:10.480 --> 00:11:13.279 that they they see a castawerry on the beach, and 186 00:11:13.399 --> 00:11:15.519 rather than give it lots of space, they go up 187 00:11:15.559 --> 00:11:17.600 to it, get their phones out, try and video it 188 00:11:17.639 --> 00:11:22.159 close up. And what happens often is the light shines 189 00:11:22.200 --> 00:11:26.120 off the back of their phone and castaworries, like many birds, 190 00:11:26.120 --> 00:11:29.879 are just fascinated. They're nosy, so they start to approach 191 00:11:29.919 --> 00:11:32.799 to investigate. Then the people panic and run, and then 192 00:11:32.840 --> 00:11:38.440 the situation escalates really really rapidly. So often some of 193 00:11:38.519 --> 00:11:42.240 these incidences where people have been injured never actually there's 194 00:11:42.240 --> 00:11:45.879 never an incidence of a severe injury. I hate to say. 195 00:11:45.879 --> 00:11:48.120 I would say ninety percent of the time. It's people 196 00:11:48.480 --> 00:11:51.240 not giving them the space and respect that they that 197 00:11:51.639 --> 00:11:54.799 they need as wild animals. You know, when more people 198 00:11:54.840 --> 00:11:58.840 die here from donkeys, et cetera than castawarry, so they're 199 00:11:58.919 --> 00:12:03.519 to be respected, and I believe all wildlife should be respected. 200 00:12:03.559 --> 00:12:07.000 I hate seeing this instant response to people just to 201 00:12:07.000 --> 00:12:10.159 touch it and fuss it and get a photo. I'm sorry, kid. 202 00:12:10.200 --> 00:12:13.559 Actually this is in Australia and in the South they 203 00:12:13.600 --> 00:12:16.279 try to put their toddler on a wild one bat 204 00:12:16.320 --> 00:12:22.080 to take a photo. You know, it's terrifying. I mean, 205 00:12:22.080 --> 00:12:26.000 one back teeth are they are excellent at cutting through 206 00:12:26.120 --> 00:12:29.120 lots of stuff and digging so they could take your 207 00:12:29.120 --> 00:12:31.200 finger off. Thankfully, it was one bat just kind of 208 00:12:31.240 --> 00:12:32.600 rolled its eyes and wandered off. 209 00:12:32.639 --> 00:12:35.120 But it would be a lot worse. 210 00:12:36.039 --> 00:12:38.240 Well it's it could have been worse. 211 00:12:38.720 --> 00:12:39.360 Been a lot worse. 212 00:12:39.799 --> 00:12:42.360 Been a lot worse. Yeah, a lot worse. So the 213 00:12:42.679 --> 00:12:46.480 the videos that I've seen of Castawory starting to get 214 00:12:46.960 --> 00:12:50.360 tense with people. The people are five six foot away, 215 00:12:50.559 --> 00:12:54.080 and you should never go up and approach to Casseawory 216 00:12:54.240 --> 00:12:57.440 five six foot away, like you shouldn't with most animals. 217 00:12:58.559 --> 00:13:04.360 So yeah, their their reputation I think has potentially been exaggerated. 218 00:13:04.399 --> 00:13:07.559 It sounds quite a cool story, the world's most dangerous bird, 219 00:13:07.960 --> 00:13:12.679 and yes, it could inflict some amazing damage. Yet somehow, 220 00:13:12.720 --> 00:13:16.200 actually the instances of death are just just just the one. 221 00:13:16.320 --> 00:13:19.440 So I imagine other birds in the world probably cause 222 00:13:19.519 --> 00:13:21.960 more deaths than customaries have. 223 00:13:22.279 --> 00:13:27.480 Well, you raised that set point about the livestock for example. 224 00:13:27.639 --> 00:13:31.720 You know, I read recently that the cows kill more 225 00:13:31.759 --> 00:13:34.519 people than sharks, and I'm like, well, yeah, and that 226 00:13:34.600 --> 00:13:36.519 makes sense if you think about it, because where would 227 00:13:36.519 --> 00:13:41.960 a cow run into a shark? But no, seriously, I 228 00:13:42.279 --> 00:13:44.759 have looked at a lot of statistics, and farm animals 229 00:13:45.240 --> 00:13:47.840 are far more dangerous than most of the scary animals 230 00:13:47.840 --> 00:13:51.240 we think of, because you just the circumstances in livestock 231 00:13:51.320 --> 00:13:56.519 management or keeping enclosed animals, you're you're extraordinarily close to 232 00:13:56.679 --> 00:14:00.120 creatures that don't really want you there, you know. And 233 00:13:59.519 --> 00:14:01.799 and some of them are so big that they can 234 00:14:01.879 --> 00:14:05.399 just accidentally kill you. But Castlewarry is in particular. My 235 00:14:05.440 --> 00:14:08.679 grandfather had an emu for I don't know, ten or 236 00:14:08.679 --> 00:14:09.440 twelve years, And so. 237 00:14:10.519 --> 00:14:11.679 Why did I not know that? 238 00:14:11.840 --> 00:14:13.879 Well, I may have told you, but it's a strange 239 00:14:13.879 --> 00:14:17.799 story because basically he found it running loose on his 240 00:14:17.840 --> 00:14:20.080 farm and when he was he must have been seventy, 241 00:14:20.480 --> 00:14:23.480 and he and a neighbor wrestled it into the pig 242 00:14:23.519 --> 00:14:25.879 pin and it guess what, it tore both of them 243 00:14:25.960 --> 00:14:27.519 up pretty bad with his clause he didn't want to 244 00:14:27.519 --> 00:14:29.799 be wrestled into a pig pen. But he kept it, 245 00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:32.120 and he kept it for in more than a decade 246 00:14:32.200 --> 00:14:35.159 as a pet, you know. So it was it was 247 00:14:35.440 --> 00:14:37.799 a love. But it was a bit like having a dinosaur. 248 00:14:37.840 --> 00:14:41.080 I loved going to see it because its feet looked 249 00:14:41.120 --> 00:14:43.879 like a velociraptor, you know, And I think the castwarry 250 00:14:43.919 --> 00:14:46.679 has the same sort of huge claws, and I assumed 251 00:14:46.720 --> 00:14:49.960 that's partly for defense and partly for being able to 252 00:14:50.120 --> 00:14:55.000 dig around and find stuff. But they are incredibly intimidating 253 00:14:55.039 --> 00:14:55.840 looking creatures. 254 00:14:57.679 --> 00:15:00.559 They are, and they have the like like many of 255 00:15:00.600 --> 00:15:03.759 their close relatives, they have very big eyes and they 256 00:15:03.840 --> 00:15:06.720 really they focus on you with both eyes at once, 257 00:15:06.759 --> 00:15:08.879 and you feel like you're sort of staring at something 258 00:15:08.919 --> 00:15:11.279 that's kind of yeah, I guess maybe sort of sussing 259 00:15:11.320 --> 00:15:13.600 you out and contemplating options. 260 00:15:14.159 --> 00:15:16.960 Oh yeah, I looked at your research body and I 261 00:15:16.960 --> 00:15:20.200 saw some of that was around stereo vision in different animals. 262 00:15:20.360 --> 00:15:23.679 Have you looked at that for the Cassewerry No. I, 263 00:15:25.519 --> 00:15:29.720 Whilst work with many birds, I'm not convinced, Like, I 264 00:15:29.759 --> 00:15:32.000 don't know what setup would be required to hold a 265 00:15:32.039 --> 00:15:35.600 castwery still whilst I look in its eyes and I 266 00:15:35.639 --> 00:15:37.279 need to be like half an inch away. 267 00:15:37.360 --> 00:15:41.039 So maybe that that's something I would volunteer someone else. 268 00:15:41.639 --> 00:15:45.679 Yeah, maybe Paul Hogan do that thing with the fingers 269 00:15:45.679 --> 00:15:50.559 and steering and get him hypnotized. There's a reference. 270 00:15:54.200 --> 00:15:56.200 I mean they can run. I mean they can run 271 00:15:56.240 --> 00:15:58.559 like thirty miles per hour. I mean they will if 272 00:15:58.559 --> 00:16:01.080 you're in a dense forest or even on a forest path, 273 00:16:01.759 --> 00:16:03.960 they will outrun you with ease, and they will out 274 00:16:04.000 --> 00:16:06.120 maneuver you with ease. You know. They've got this amazing 275 00:16:06.159 --> 00:16:08.919 thing where they can crouch down so their center of 276 00:16:09.000 --> 00:16:11.279 mass and it's really low to the ground, so they 277 00:16:12.080 --> 00:16:14.440 they're really robust. You know, they're much better at that 278 00:16:14.559 --> 00:16:17.919 than say EMUs and rears and ostriches. You know, they're 279 00:16:17.960 --> 00:16:22.080 just incredibly maneuverable. Wow, and they don't look I don't 280 00:16:22.120 --> 00:16:24.279 like to be rude about ostriches and EMUs, but they 281 00:16:24.320 --> 00:16:26.720 can look a little ungainly sometimes they can look a 282 00:16:26.720 --> 00:16:29.120 little they could just kind of trip over at any moment, 283 00:16:30.159 --> 00:16:32.159 and you don't get that from a cast area. They're 284 00:16:32.159 --> 00:16:35.000 far more in that sense, as you've already mentioned. They 285 00:16:35.000 --> 00:16:38.120 look far more bipedal dinosaur like, you know, because of 286 00:16:38.159 --> 00:16:39.919 how fast they can run and how low to the 287 00:16:39.919 --> 00:16:43.399 ground and they crouch, so they can definitely look intimidating, 288 00:16:43.480 --> 00:16:46.600 but they're not. They're not out hunting people. 289 00:16:48.440 --> 00:16:49.519 As they make it sound. 290 00:16:50.279 --> 00:16:53.120 Yeah, exactly. And when you go to these places, and 291 00:16:53.639 --> 00:16:56.080 maybe you've been up to the North Queensland as well, Karen, 292 00:16:56.120 --> 00:16:58.600 if you're from of Australia. I appreciate Australia as the 293 00:16:58.600 --> 00:17:02.039 size of Europe, but the people there are not living 294 00:17:02.039 --> 00:17:05.880 in fear. That's something I noticed immediately. If you say 295 00:17:05.880 --> 00:17:08.440 to people, oh, I really wouldn't mind seeing a castawery, 296 00:17:08.440 --> 00:17:10.920 If oh, well I try here, They're not like, oh, 297 00:17:10.960 --> 00:17:13.920 you're all going to die. It's like I just don't 298 00:17:13.960 --> 00:17:14.640 walk up to it. 299 00:17:15.119 --> 00:17:19.400 Yeah, maybe there's some people from overseas just to joke 300 00:17:19.440 --> 00:17:22.640 about it. But part of the article that I read 301 00:17:22.960 --> 00:17:25.839 was about your personal quest to encounter a caswerry in 302 00:17:25.880 --> 00:17:29.160 the wild. So I have relatives in Queensland, but certainly 303 00:17:29.160 --> 00:17:32.759 not far north Queensland. It's more around the Sunshine Coast area. 304 00:17:32.880 --> 00:17:37.119 So go up a couple of thousand kilometers north and 305 00:17:37.119 --> 00:17:39.359 that's where you would have gone. So can you tell 306 00:17:39.400 --> 00:17:41.839 us a little bit about this expedition and did you 307 00:17:41.960 --> 00:17:43.319 find one? 308 00:17:43.519 --> 00:17:48.119 So it had been a childhood sort of I guess passion, 309 00:17:48.240 --> 00:17:51.920 possibly obsessioned to see wild castlewarries, and I think that 310 00:17:51.960 --> 00:17:54.559 partly was I wonder if most children go through the 311 00:17:54.640 --> 00:17:57.160 dinosaur phase, and I certainly did from about the age 312 00:17:57.200 --> 00:18:00.119 of five nine. It's part of growing up, isn't it. 313 00:18:01.519 --> 00:18:04.240 And Obviously, as we've discussed, there's not much in a 314 00:18:04.319 --> 00:18:07.640 live today that looks more like a dinsaur than a castiglory. 315 00:18:08.160 --> 00:18:11.319 And you know, zoos have their place at times, and 316 00:18:11.359 --> 00:18:13.400 I've seen casta worries and zoos, but it's not the 317 00:18:13.440 --> 00:18:19.039 same experience as I guess, like sort of researching them, 318 00:18:19.079 --> 00:18:21.559 reading up on them and the field craft it takes 319 00:18:21.599 --> 00:18:24.079 to actually kind of track things down in a way 320 00:18:24.119 --> 00:18:26.279 that you're not invading in their sort of personal space. 321 00:18:26.759 --> 00:18:30.039 And so I was in Australia for work and then 322 00:18:30.240 --> 00:18:32.839 I sort of was able to separately at the end 323 00:18:32.920 --> 00:18:35.039 go up to Kennes because my work had taken me 324 00:18:35.119 --> 00:18:39.240 to Melbourne and I had looked fondly at all these 325 00:18:39.279 --> 00:18:42.200 photos of these castle worries on the beaches at Mission Beach, 326 00:18:42.960 --> 00:18:45.079 and it's such a unique place. I believe it's the 327 00:18:45.160 --> 00:18:49.079 only place in the world where tropical rainforest actually meets 328 00:18:49.640 --> 00:18:52.039 coral reef. You know, there's there's no gap between it. 329 00:18:53.039 --> 00:18:55.079 And that was also to something that I thought, if 330 00:18:55.119 --> 00:18:57.799 I have the chance, i'd love to go and experience that, 331 00:18:59.160 --> 00:19:01.920 and I like, maybe this might be my only chance. Obviously, 332 00:19:01.960 --> 00:19:04.119 Australia is quite a long way away from from London, 333 00:19:05.079 --> 00:19:08.640 and so I just took myself up there for four days. 334 00:19:09.480 --> 00:19:11.960 I didn't have a car or a means to have 335 00:19:12.000 --> 00:19:14.400 a car, so I had to plan out kind of 336 00:19:14.400 --> 00:19:18.200 my walking routes well in advance, and I put lots 337 00:19:18.200 --> 00:19:20.440 of thought into how to find them and where to 338 00:19:20.480 --> 00:19:23.359 find them, and then I didn't really think beyond that. 339 00:19:23.400 --> 00:19:26.440 And it wasn't until my mom sort of said, oh, yeah, 340 00:19:26.440 --> 00:19:28.079 she's pretty chilled. But she was like, oh, do you 341 00:19:28.079 --> 00:19:30.279 have a mobile phone signal when you're in the forest. 342 00:19:30.319 --> 00:19:31.799 I was like, no, no, there's no signal. 343 00:19:33.839 --> 00:19:34.480 Good question. 344 00:19:35.079 --> 00:19:37.880 Yeah, I started planning to walk in advance. I was like, well, 345 00:19:37.880 --> 00:19:40.079 not exactly. I know roughly where I'm sarting, you're on 346 00:19:40.119 --> 00:19:42.319 your rows. Like yeah. She's like, is there venomous snakes? 347 00:19:42.319 --> 00:19:46.680 Like it has loads of venom snakes And she was like, okay, 348 00:19:47.599 --> 00:19:50.680 a plan. Yeah. But for some reason, I think maybe 349 00:19:50.720 --> 00:19:53.240 I was just being quite single, single minded and I 350 00:19:53.559 --> 00:19:56.640 hadn't actually, and I've done lots of fool work around 351 00:19:56.680 --> 00:19:59.160 the world. I'm very very fortunate to have done that. 352 00:19:59.200 --> 00:20:01.680 With work. Part of me is always aware of the 353 00:20:01.759 --> 00:20:04.079 dangers of certain you know, snakes are certain insects, and 354 00:20:04.720 --> 00:20:08.039 actually I mean, you've probably experienced us, both coming from 355 00:20:08.119 --> 00:20:10.319 and living in countries of far more snakes than we have. 356 00:20:10.720 --> 00:20:12.519 It takes a lot to actually see a snake. I'd 357 00:20:12.559 --> 00:20:14.480 love to have seen more snakes in my life, and 358 00:20:14.480 --> 00:20:16.960 I've gone looking for snakes and I never find snakes 359 00:20:16.960 --> 00:20:20.880 because they don't really like people there are they run away. 360 00:20:21.480 --> 00:20:24.599 So I didn't. I didn't see any snakes in Australia 361 00:20:24.640 --> 00:20:27.440 at all. I was quite disappointed. But yeah, so I 362 00:20:27.440 --> 00:20:30.720 took myself off to Mission Beach, which I've seen always 363 00:20:30.720 --> 00:20:34.759 wonderful picture postcard like images of it, and it completely 364 00:20:34.799 --> 00:20:38.640 lives up to it. It really did. There's no filters 365 00:20:38.680 --> 00:20:41.039 on those photos that people are showing you of this 366 00:20:41.200 --> 00:20:45.000 amazing place. It honestly felt like paradise. It's a cheesy term, 367 00:20:45.359 --> 00:20:48.759 but it felt. I just sat there for you, quite 368 00:20:48.880 --> 00:20:52.440 quite content, and it was beautiful and feeling very fortunate. 369 00:20:52.440 --> 00:20:57.200 Really, I've seen just a couple of snakes, maybe garden snakes, 370 00:20:57.200 --> 00:20:59.880 slithering in front of me going on a hike once 371 00:21:00.079 --> 00:21:02.039 are I encountered a brown snake, but it was a 372 00:21:02.039 --> 00:21:05.000 couple of feet away that was coiled up, just sleeping 373 00:21:05.039 --> 00:21:08.440 in the sun, and I just kept my distance so yeah, 374 00:21:08.440 --> 00:21:10.759 it's absolutely true. I think people have the idea of 375 00:21:10.799 --> 00:21:14.200 Australia just being spiders and snakes everywhere. Everything's going to 376 00:21:14.279 --> 00:21:16.359 kill you, and it's it's not true. 377 00:21:17.720 --> 00:21:20.400 I think when I was younger, I mean a lot younger. 378 00:21:20.519 --> 00:21:22.799 You know, this is the seventies and long before the 379 00:21:22.799 --> 00:21:25.200 internet whatever, I think I had the same image of 380 00:21:25.240 --> 00:21:27.960 like certain sort of capital cities and African countries had 381 00:21:28.000 --> 00:21:30.680 images of the pride of lions, like you know, walking 382 00:21:30.720 --> 00:21:32.759 down what would be the equivalent of oar Oxford Street 383 00:21:32.799 --> 00:21:35.200 by the houses of Parliament or something, and of course 384 00:21:35.200 --> 00:21:37.359 you know, yeah, and you go to these places and 385 00:21:37.400 --> 00:21:39.319 people like, no, you have to like drive for hours 386 00:21:39.319 --> 00:21:41.359 and then you have to like be super quiet and 387 00:21:41.400 --> 00:21:43.319 you have to do you know, they're not just hang 388 00:21:43.599 --> 00:21:48.279 every rafter and every tree. And I'm still amaze actually 389 00:21:48.319 --> 00:21:51.799 how people have that image of Australia. They kind of oh, no, 390 00:21:51.839 --> 00:21:54.200 you know, you're not scared every time you like, you know, 391 00:21:54.240 --> 00:21:56.039 get up in the morning, Like, no, I'm in a 392 00:21:56.079 --> 00:21:58.920 house in a major city and I love to see 393 00:21:58.960 --> 00:22:02.599 some wildlife other than the invasive introduced minor birds. 394 00:22:02.680 --> 00:22:06.160 And yeah, it's just what you know, and if you 395 00:22:06.200 --> 00:22:09.880 haven't experienced it, then all the stereotypes that are out. 396 00:22:09.680 --> 00:22:13.839 There, absolutely and again, though often a lot of it 397 00:22:13.920 --> 00:22:16.640 is fueled now by social media. I keep seeing these 398 00:22:16.720 --> 00:22:21.359 clips of visitors to Australia on the beach, having looking 399 00:22:21.440 --> 00:22:23.960 rock pools and coming back with one of the blue 400 00:22:24.039 --> 00:22:25.519 ring octopus in the hands. 401 00:22:25.559 --> 00:22:32.480